Jostein Gaarder Books

Together with Hans Thomas,the reader finds out his past, on a glorious magical mystery tour which sets the mind whirring and the imagination flying.

Bestselling philosophy book is reimagined for the first time as a graphic novel One day, young Sophie finds a letter addressed to her that contains only one question: "Who are you?" Then there's another one asking, "Where does the world come from?" The sender of these letters remains a mystery, but the questions intrigue Sophie. This is the beginning of a strange correspondence that will lead the young girl on a coming-of-age quest to meet major figures of philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Hegel, Sartre, etc.). In the first volume, Sophie begins by questioning the philosophers of Antiquity and goes all the way to those of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This is the first of two volumes. In the second volume, she discovers metaphysical doubt while continuing on her way to modern times. This comic book adaptation of Jostein Gaarder's original book breathes new life into a cult classic.

Conversations about life and death, between a girl and an angel. As Cecelia lies ill in bed, and her family valiantly make their Christmas preparations in the knowledge that she is not going to get better, an angel steps through her window. The death os a teenage girl from cancer is, in Gardner's hands, an occasion to reflect on the meaning of life and to celebrate it.It is the springboard for a spirited and thoroughly engaging series of conversations between Cecelia and her angel, who likes to sit around and chat. As Cecelia thinks about her own experiences and prepares herself for dying, we see subtle changes in her and her relationships with her family. No one could fail to be moved by the ending, when the angel takes her by the hand and they fly away together. Jostein Gaarder is a profoundly optimistic writer who approaches the subject of death and loss with wisdom, compassion and the open minded and enquiring spirit that characterises all his work. This is a book that will bring comfort to the bereaved: but more than that, it continues the wonderful exploration of universal ideas that made SOPHIE'S WORLD great.

In this selection from her novel, the author introduces the Greek masters, Plato and Aristotle, whose thought provided the building blocks of Western thought.

'My father died eleven years ago. I was only four then. I never thought I'd hear from him again, but now we're writing a book together' To Georg Røed, his father is no more than a shadow, a distant memory. But then one day his grandmother discovers some pages stuffed into the lining of an old red pushchair. The pages are a letter to Georg, written just before his father died, and a story, 'The Orange Girl'. But 'The Orange Girl' is no ordinary story - it is a riddle from the past and centres around an incident in his father's youth. One day he boarded a tram and was captivated by a beautiful girl standing in the aisle, clutching a huge paper bag of luscious-looking oranges. Suddenly the tram gave a jolt and he stumbled forward, sending the oranges flying in all directions. The girl simply hopped off the tram leaving Georg's father with arms full of oranges. Now, from beyond the grave, he is asking his son to help him finally solve the puzzle of her identity.

A picture book with fundamental philosophical questions, posed in a way only Jostein Gaarder is capable of. The illustrator has made an independent visual narrative that underscores the existential aspect of Jostein Gaarder's philosophical questions. Questions Asked shows confidence in a child's capacity to think deeply and read between the lines. The book follows a little boy traveling alone in an open landscape. Soon we realize he is on a journey of thoughts and dreams, asking questions about loss, myth, language, magic, and what it means to be a human being. Jostein Gaarder's philosophical questions merge with the beautiful illustrations of Akin Düzakin into a tale of friendship, love, and grief - and about daring to think about life as you live it.

Panina Manina, a trapeze artist, falls and breaks her neck. As the ringmaster bends over her, he notices an amulet of amber around her neck, the same trinket he had given his own lost child, who was swept away in a torrent some sixteen years earlier. This tale is narrated by Petter, a precocious child and fantasist, and perhaps Jostein Gaarder's most intriguing character since Sophie. As an adult, Petter makes his living selling stories and ideas to professionals suffering from writers block. But as Petter sits spinning his tales, he finds himself in a trap of his own making.

Fifty years ago a girl disappeared from her home in Norway. She ran after a lamb and found herself travelling right across Europe to Palestine, and back through 2000 years to meet the Holy Family in Bethlehem. There she met angels, shepherds, wise men and other biblical characters who joined her on her pilgrimage; and she heard of many of the things that happened in the world in the last 2000 years. In present-day Norway, a boy acquires a strange old Advent calendar. Hidden in each of the windows is a tiny piece of paper. Little by little these pieces unfold the girl's story and as we learn what happened to her, another story is revealed - that of the strange old man who made the calender.

A playful and inventive work from the bestselling author of SOPHIE'S WORLD.

A chance meeting on the Fijian island of Taveuni is the trigger for a fascinating and mysterious novel that intertwines the stories of John Spooke, an English author who is grieving for his dead wife; Frank Andersen, a Norwegian evolutionary biologist estranged from his wife Vera; and an enigmatic Spanish couple, Ana and Jose, who are absorbed in their love for each other. Why does Ana bear such a close resemblance to the model for Goya's famous Maja paintings? What is the significance of the Joker as he steps out of his pack of cards? As the action moves from Fiji to Spain, from the present to the past, unfolding further stories within the stories, the novel reveals an astonishing richness and complexity. As bold and imaginative in its sweep as Sophie's World, it shows again that Jostein Gaarder's unique and special gift is to make us wonder at the awe-inspiring mystery of the universe.